Chaiten, Puyuhuapi & Queulat NP, Carretera Austral in Chile (Patagonia Expedition #02)

In the second episode of our Patagonia Expedition we start hitchhiking the Carretera Austral in Chile and explore the Fjords north of Chaiten and the hanging glacier of Queulat near Puyuhuapi.
My Guide for Chile:
--- equipment used to produce this video ---
Cam1:Sony A7 II
Cam2: Sony NEX 5
Cam3: GoPro
Drone: Phantom 3 Pro
Drone Backpack: Manfrotto D1
Amazon Tripod
Joby Gorillapod
Audio Recorder: Zoom H2n
SDHC Memory Card
Waterproof Memory Card Case
Backpack Osprey Farpoint 40
The Carretera Austral is a 1200km long road in the south of Chile which connects the most remote areas of the country. The ruta 7 is a paradise for adventure seekers as it is a mostly unpaved road which brings you to the lesser known parts of Patagonia in the stunning Los Lagos and Aysen Region.
Our plan was to get from Puerto Montt till Villa O’Higgins by thumb to get in touch with locals and fellow adventurers along the way. But for the first stretch from Puerto Montt to Chaiten we chose public transport as you need to take 3 ferries to cross through the Fjords. The landscape with its fjords and temperate rainforests around the national parks of pumalin and hornopiren is stunning and reminded me of scandinavia.
Chaitén, once destroyed by a volcano was our first stop. We explored the city and I was surprised how it came back to live after my last visit 3 years ago - a lot of restaurants and shops opened and tourism is increasing with tours to the nearby volcano and to the Pumalin park.
On the next day we got up early, headed out of town and started hitchhiking. After just about 20 minutes we got our first ride which took us to Villa Santa Lucia where we got stuck as there were many like minded adventurers. Shortly before we gave up we got lucky again and got a lift to La Junta where we stayed for the night.
Another day of waiting, only a few cars passed us that day until..after about 6h…a big truck pulled over and offered to take us - we climbed into the back where a party was going on with a bunch of other hitchhikers who got picked up along the way. This ride from La Junta to Puyuhuapi turned out to be one of the most memorable hitchhiking experiences I’ve ever had.
Puyhuapi was our base for 3 days as we wanted to explore the nearby paqrque nacional Queulat with its impressive hanging glacier Queulat. The park is located 20km out of Puyuhuapi. This time Sergio who is the park ranger at Queulat gave us a ride and told us more details about the famous hanging glacier. With this early arrival we were the first to hike up to the viewpoint to get the best view of the glacier - simply overwhelming!
This part of the trip was executed within 1week by using the local buses and altogether 5 rides via hitchhiking - following I list all the places we visited & Things to do along the Carretera Austral:
- Puerto Montt
- Hornopiren
- Pumalin Park
- Chaiten
- Villa Santa Lucia
- La Junta
- Puyuhuapi
- Queulat National Park / Parque Nacional Queulat
- Queulat Glacier / ventisquero queulat (colgante)
I'm excited to share all our experiences in Patagonia over the course of the next 6 weeks with you. In the next episodes we will Hitchhike the central part of the Carretera Austral, trek through the most impressive mountain ranges, ice hike over the glaciers of the southern Patagonian Icefield and meet impressive characters along the way.
The Patagonian Expedition is a 95% self funded video documentary project following my trip in 2012/2013. Our aim is to show you the beauty of the rather unknown parts in Patagonia alongside with the famous spots.
Beside beautiful landscape you can expect loads of information and our personal experiences and struggles along the way.
--- my travel equipment ---
insurance
packing list
Online Language Course
The whole trip was executed over the course of 2 months using mostly local transport such as busses, cars and trucks. A big thank you goes to Lufthansa for providing the flights into and out of South America in their new Premium Economy Class!
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